Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me Monday, the day I share all the things I Most Certainly Did Not Do over the last week! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I was not resentful that I had to spend my three day weekend last week with three sick kids with 102 temperatures, instead of enjoying my husbands time off of work. And I did not feel about two inches tall when he reminded me what a blessing it was that he was off of work to help me.

I did not want to scream and promise that I'd never go back to the pediatricians office. Ever. All this after they prescribed a medicine that has horrible known side effects in children under two-and I was never given a warning before giving it to him, only to have those side effects-effect him and scare me. Half To Death. (see post below for details).

I did not COMPLETELY LOSE IT when my daughter told me at 5 o'clock in the afternoon that the only reason she had just finished her school was because I had made her spend an hour watching the Presidential Inauguration, taking notes and then writing a paragraph. She seemed to have forgotten the two hours she'd wasted that morning doing just a math page. And I was not super surprised at what an amazing job she actually did writing that paragraph.

The next day, I knew I had to change something about the way I was doing things. I was not surprised to see what a difference the rest of my homeschool week was, when we started the day off each morning doing Bible together. I should not have been surprised at the spiritual battles I was facing every day without even realizing it.

I was not the mother who let her two boys open and close the door coming into the orthodontist office or the one letting them play with the water fountain just to pacify them long enough for my daughter to have her retainer checked. And I did not get upset when I left my sons sippy cup at the office, when I was already in a hurry to get home to eat lunch with Wesley, then had to turn around and go back to get it.

When my husband and I went to finally renew our cell phone contract, I was not super proud of myself for getting the free cell phone, versus giving into temptation to buy the phone I wanted, even with him telling me to get the one I wanted. And I did not tell myself over and over, "What is the point of making a budget if you're not going to follow it?"

My husband and I have been watching seasons 1-4 of LOST over the last four months so that we'd be caught up by the premier of season 5. After all that watching, we did not both fall asleep an hour into the two hour long premier! And I did not spend the next afternoon watching what we'd missed on the ABC website!

I did not almost squeal with delight over getting two emails from two different friends from high school who like me, don't have much time to write emails.

I did not take my kids to go play outside just so I could selfishly take pictures of them and then make them come back inside after my camera battery died, for the first time since getting it for Christmas. I'd let them play for over an hour, that was plenty long enough. Maybe? Ya think?

I was not extremely proud of Foster when he came home from speech therapy with three snowmen "It's Mommy, Foster and Will" which he had to say a word for every "Snowball". And I did not get a kick out of him wanting me to take his picture over and over and over again...and then get mad when I took someone else's picture. This coming from the child who will rarely sit still long enough for me to snap any kind of photo.

I did not try to make the most of my husband's night away at a men's conference for our church, by pigging out on junk food and having a girls night with my Randol. I did not want to hug my friend Kim when she invited me over for a play date all day while both our husbands were away. I did not enjoy getting to sit and visit while our kids played and never once had to worry over whether or not my kids would act on their best behavior or try and impress anyone. We did not laugh and share each others motherhood stories and fill each other up with much needed encouragement. And I did not greet Wesley with open arms and enjoy the next hour as he excitedly gave me a recap of his weekend.

I did not wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, convicted of how much I need to seek His face everyday and quit running on my own agenda and schedule. I was not reminded once again that I am living on His time-not my own and that He has a purpose for every minute that I am on this earth.

I did not begin to ask God what He had up His sleeve when two other mom's told me in one week that they are going to start homeschooling next year. I did not start to seek His will for how I am supposed to help and lead them along the way.

I did not soak up every picture my sister put on Facebook of my precious niece and I did not feel sad at seeing her sweet three month old smile and think of all the things I am missing.

I did not laugh when people came up to me at church saying they didn't realize I was pregnant and that they thought the baby I held in our Christmas production in December was mine...and that I was pregnant. AGAIN! Ahh-what a nightmare!

I did not almost cry when my pastor sang an old hymn acapella last night at the deacon ordination. I was not super proud of seeing Wesley's best friend Seth become ordained and I did not almost cry again (gotta love those pregnancy hormones!) from watching Seth's father bend over and whisper a long prayer in his ear. I did not stay for almost 45 minutes after the service was over (while my kids were in the nursery) just so that I could take pictures. And I did not make a fool of myself in front of our pastor by telling him I love my new Canon 40d so much that I have even dreamt about it! His wife is a professional photographer and was sharing "camera stories", but please-dreams about a camera? What An Idiot! TMI!

It did not make my whole year, when an older friend and mentor came up to me at church on Sunday just to tell me that, "I thought that girl who won Miss America last night must have been pregnant and went to my church because she looks just like you!" I did not almost kiss her!

I did not finally relieve my guilt by bringing dinner to a friend who'd had a baby three months ago and lives right across the street from my house!

And lastly, I did not fall out laughing when my 20 month old crawled up next to me, patted my prego belly and said, "It's a ball!" and then try to look under my shirt for the ball I was hiding. That was quickly followed up by my 3 year old responding, "Silly Will, it's not a ball, it's a baby in mommy's tummy....but Daddy's baby is all gone!"